


"I love you a lot, but please stop trying to cook dinner for me."

by drugstoreperfume



Series: drabble prompts for the exy kids [3]
Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: M/M, but somehow they work and its beautiful and lovely, drabble 3 of the alice writes: drabble prompts set, i love their relationship so much and i hope my spin on the charas is satisfactory, jean is very blunt, jeremy cant cook for shit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-03
Updated: 2018-09-03
Packaged: 2019-07-06 14:21:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15887790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/drugstoreperfume/pseuds/drugstoreperfume
Summary: Jeremy tries, but he really can't cook. Jean doesn't know how to break things easy.





	"I love you a lot, but please stop trying to cook dinner for me."

**Author's Note:**

> Timeline: two years after the events of the third novel.
> 
> I saw this prompt, saw the I love you, and was like fuck no this would never work for andreil so this came into existence. also I thoroughly believe that both neil and andrew can cook bc they know a lot about, well, survival.
> 
> dedication: ashleigh, who supports me and doesnt judge me for my sometimes smutty life choices.

“Bon appetit!”

Jean rolled his eyes at the botched French accent and looked down at his plate. “What is this?”

Jeremy’s smile didn’t falter. “What do you mean, ‘what is it’? Look at it, silly!”

Jean lifted a charcoal square from the mud-brown liquid swirling around his plate with his fork and knife. “Uh – no, please enlighten me.”

“It’s beef stew,” said Jeremy.

“Beef stew,” repeated Jean, turning the ‘beef’ this way and that.

“You have a game tomorrow night,” elaborated Jeremy. “You’ve been training hard. It’s good protein!”

Jean shot Jeremy a smirk. “I think whatever protein there was in this is long gone.”

Jeremy returned Jean’s smile, but the edges twitched. His face dropped, hair falling in front of his eyes, and he reached for his knife and fork sadly.

Jean backpedalled immediately. “Oh, Jem, I’m sorry –“

“I just wanted to do something nice for you,” Jeremy said, voice watery.

Jean reached forward to touch Jeremy’s face, but Jeremy moved backwards. “Jem…”

“It took a long time.” Jeremy sniffed. “I know I overcooked the beef, but I still –“

“Overcooked is an understatement.”

“Jean!”

“I’m so – I’m sorry, Jeremy.” Jean got up from his seat and rounded the table.

“Why the fuck would you say that?” Jeremy wiped his eyes with the ball of his palm.

“I don’t know, I just –“

Jeremy turned his body away from Jean to hide his tears.

“Jeremy, don’t run from me,” Jean began quietly. It was hard for him to say these things, even two years later.

“I was just trying to do something nice for my _boyfriend_ ,” Jeremy says, tears not managing to fully dampen the acid in his tone.  “Do you remember that’s what we are?”

“Jeremy.”

“God,” Jeremy exclaimed, voice cracking. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that.”

“You did.”

“I didn’t.”

“Jeremy.”

Jeremy was silent.

“I know you put in a lot of effort for me, but you don’t have to.”

“I want to.”

“I know, I know, but I just –“ Jean crouched down by the table. “I appreciate all the effort you put into us, but I’d prefer to order takeout and watch a movie with you.”

“Just takeout and a movie?”

“At least then I have more time with you. You’ve been in the kitchen all day.”

“Making something for _you_.”

“I appreciate the effort, Jem, but I don’t give a fuck about this when I could have you.”

There was a pause. Before long, Jeremy turned around, smile beginning to poke through – he was easy to please, excitable, sensitive and unashamed of it, and Jean loved that. “You want to spend more time with me?”

Jean smiled, lopsided and uneasy from years of no practise. “Of course I do. I’d rather have you than this the night before the big game,” he said. “Plus –“ He lifted Jeremy’s fork and made at stabbing the charcoal beef, the prongs of the fork scraping at the hardened surface, “this is fucking inedible.”

Jeremy, eyes still cloudy, looked at the shit-coloured meal he had created and sighed with a smile. “Yeah, it’s shit.”

“I love you a lot, but please stop trying to cook me dinner,” Jean said, hand now coming to rest on Jeremy’s cheek. “You suck.”

It was rare that the ‘L’ word left Jean’s mouth, so Jeremy took the moment to reply with a happy, “I love you too!” and basked in the moment.

Jeremy stared at Jean’s wet, clumped eyelashes, dragging the pad of his thumb ever so gently against the delicate skin of Jeremy’s undereye. For a moment, all was calm, and the burnt dinner was forgotten. For Jean, the silence could have lasted forever, but Jeremy was always one to break it.

“You’re really blunt sometimes,” Jeremy said, not without fondness.

“I am,” Jean admitted. “I’m sorry.”

“You’re not.”

“I’m a little bit sorry.”

“I don’t want you to be sorry,” Jeremy said, lips drawing up into his characteristic sunshine-yellow beam. “I like how you are.”

Jean’s cheeks flushed, and the intimacy of the moment caught up with him. Thumb rubbing distracting circles into Jeremy’s face, Jean took the quiet moment to clear his throat and dispel the claustrophobia he felt.

Ignoring Jean’s antics, Jeremy leaned into Jean’s palm, long eyelashes fluttering at the warmth. Jean’s thumb presses into a dimple. “Do you want Chinese or pizza?”

Jean’s eyes lit up. “ _Pizza_.”

 

Later, when Jean was curled up in joggers with Jeremy’s legs draped over his, he asked the question. “Have you ever tried sweet food?”

Jeremy, a slice of pizza hanging from his mouth, turned. “Hm?”

“You’ve always made me savoury foods,” Jean said. “Have you ever tried baking?”

Jeremy mulled over this as he chewed a Hawaiian slice. “I don’t think so.”

“You want to try it with me?”

It was a peace offering, and Jean knew Jeremy realised it, but the joy in his eyes was unmistakable nonetheless. “Sure!”

**Author's Note:**

> hihihi i hope you enjoyed my little drabble! the ending feels a little dead to me but i literally had no idea where to draw this to a close pleas have mercy on me.  
> this drabble challenge im setting myself is a good exercise for me to try and vary characters because im going to university to take creative writing this year! please comment down below what you thought of it. thank you so much!


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